Football Uniforms: The history behind the uniform

Jersey business: Style is the New Game

The NFL uniforms started developing in the 1920s, with simple, thick wool jerseys in solid colors. A decade later, in the 1930s, wearing a helmet became compulsory and teams started putting numbers on the jerseys to identify their players. The first helmet design came in 1948 when a Los Angeles Rams player painted ram horns on his leather helmet.

In the 1950s the emphasis shifted to style with teams vying to modify color combinations. The uniform designs of many teams of our time were finalized in the 1980s. The boom in jersey sales came up in the 1990s and became a hot commodity in pro-athlete merchandise.

Now, the league has a tradition of wearing throwback uniforms on Thanksgiving Day games. Notably in this season, the Pittsburgh Steelers sported their bumble bee jerseys from 1934 on so many occasions to celebrate and commemorate their historical 80th season. In fact Nike unveiled new uniforms for all the 32 teams in the NFL even before the 2012 season kicked off.

Written by Chelsea Olson

Chelsea Olson is a model, fashion enthusiast, writer, avid traveler, and food and wine lover based in South Beach. Chelsea is the city editor for Dining Out Miami, a magazine restaurant guide, and the editor for Eater Miami, a restaurant, bar, and nightlife blog.